We will go into private session. It will be seldom used - primarily to work on times and dates of meetings. I have listened to members' contributions and will take into account how they want the committee's work to be prioritised. I will meet the Whips tomorrow to work out the order of issues, the length of time given to speakers, the number of people making presentations and so on. The committee will resume at 10 a.m. on Thursday to agree the work programme and the decisions of the Whips. Is that agreed? Agreed.
We will try to move away from the committee of old, which spent too much time discussing reports. I ask that members bring their ideas on what should be prioritised with them on Thursday morning. We cannot take every proposal on board, but we can agree three or four priorities. For example, we could receive a presentation on the national cancer strategy because it is an issue into which people would like to delve. The committee should run in parallel with the Minister, that is, we should know what is occurring before we read about it outside the Oireachtas. We want to tease out policies, how they are working and what decisions are being taken.
Senator Fitzgerald and Deputy O'Sullivan referred to the Midland Regional Hospital at Portlaoise, my local hospital. I would like the right decisions to be made in the roll-out of services. I supported the then Minister, Deputy Noonan, on the national cancer strategy for the midlands, but we would not have the current situation in Portlaoise had everyone else supported him. Professor Jim Finlay was supported by the National Cancer Forum and the then Minister took the political decision to designate Tullamore as the lead centre for the roll-out of cancer services in the midlands. I supported that strategy rather than supporting my hospital in Portlaoise. It is unfortunate that, due to local political influence, the strategy was watered down and a breast cancer clinic was opened in Portlaoise. I do not want to see a similar situation arise.
I support members' comments regarding proposals being analysed to ensure the decisions are correct. I hope that the committee progresses along those lines and teases out matters properly. I take on board the suggestion that we should invite the Minister to appear before the committee once every quarter. Am I correct in interpreting the suggestion?